19th Century

West Country Witchcraft: Ann Burge and the Taunton Assizes.

A lovely little book that I am very fond of browsing through is Bygone Days in Devonshire and Cornwall. First published in 1874, it contains various weird and wonderful West Country superstitions and customs, and also makes mention of “an account of a trial at Taunton Assizes, on April 4, 1823, in which three females were …

West Country Witchcraft: Ann Burge and the Taunton Assizes. Read More »

Read it in the Papers: The Persecution of Susannah Sellick

Old newspapers are one of my favourite places to find stories, and a recent dip into the archives didn’t fail to disappoint. Under the tantalising headline of Witchcraft, the following appeared in the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 18thJuly, 1860.   At the Woodbury Petty Sessions on Monday, the 9th int, Susanah Sellick, a respectable …

Read it in the Papers: The Persecution of Susannah Sellick Read More »